Villanova, Pa. – After a 3-0 performance last weekend, the Wildcats will head west to face some tough competition at the Trojan Invitational hosted by the University of Southern California.
Villanova will once again play a double header on Friday, facing Yale at 1:30 p.m. ET followed by Howard at 8 o'clock. On Saturday Villanova will meet No. 20 USC at 10:30 p.m. ET. All three teams participated in the NCAA tournament a year ago, with Yale and Howard winning their conferences and USC receiving an at-large bid.
This trip will be another homecoming trip for many of the Wildcats, with three players from the LA area.
Sophia Howling is from Los Angeles, Lough is from Riverside and
Sarah Allman is from Manhattan Beach.
"We're looking forward to getting out west," head coach
Josh Steinbach said. "We've had so many great players over the years from California, and with three SoCal kids on the current roster it's a great trip for us."
Friday will be the sixth meeting between Villanova and Yale. Yale is coming off a 19-5 season ending in a first-round NCAA tournament loss. The Bulldogs are 0-3 to start this season, but each loss came to a Power-5 program at a tournament hosted by Indiana. Yale is led by Rebekah Nemeth with 33 kills and Ellis DeJardin with 30 through three matches.
Villanova and Howard have met four times prior, with Villanova having won all four matches. Howard went 20-10 a season ago, including 9-1 in conference play where they swept the MEAC tournament to receive a bid to the NCAA tournament. The Bison are off to a 2-5 start to 2019 after playing in tournaments in Washington D.C. and Queens, NY. The Bison feature a balanced attack with five players already totally more than 40 kills, thanks in large part to their sophomore setter Ana Williams who leads the nation at 14.00 assists per set.
The Wildcats and Trojans will meet for just the second time when they square off late Saturday night. USC will represent the first ranked opponent for Villanova in 2019. The last time the Wildcats faced a non-conference ranked team was last season, when they took down No. 21 Utah in a five-set thriller in Nevin Fieldhouse. USC has played a gauntlet of a schedule so far, and is 2-3 with losses to No. 3 Texas, No. 15 Kentucky and No. 17 Creighton. The Trojans are led by Brooke Botkin and Kalen Owes who are both above the 50-kill mark already. Jasmine Gross will be a challenge for the Wildcats up front, as she sits at third in the country with 1.94 blocks per set.
"The competition will be really good at well," Steinbach said. "Yale is really talented, well coached, and always a tough match up for us. Howard just played Maryland really tough so I expect that will be a good match as well. Of course playing at USC will be a huge challenge, but I know we will be excited to play a great program on their home floor."
Live stats will be available for all three matches and a periscope feed will be available for the first two. The match against USC will be streamed via the Pac-12 Plus Facebook page.
Following the road trip, Villanova will return home for the home opener when they take on Temple on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. at Jake Nevin Fieldhouse.
